You can save lives by staying off the Tube

We all have a role to play in this effort – even if that means just sitting at home

Our country is in the midst of the biggest health, social and economic crisis since the Second World War – and it will take a wartime national effort to overcome it.

Our priority is to save lives. The biggest threat to life will come if our hospitals are overrun – with too few beds and not enough equipment to treat severely ill patients. Our doctors and nurses should never be forced to choose who lives and who dies.

London is ahead of the rest of the UK in terms of the spread of the virus because of our global connectivity and closer living. I’m working hand in glove with the Government, the NHS, Public Health England and other public services to lead a fully joined-up response.

Some hospitals in London are already accelerating towards their capacity limits. That’s why it is crucial that we all follow the rules strictly so that we can buy our brilliant NHS staff the time they need to save lives. This means everyone staying at home, apart from the very few exceptions the Government has set out.

Perhaps more than any other crisis our country has faced, every single person has a pivotal role to play. This is truly a collective effort, with our country now coming together for this fight in a way we have not seen for many decades. Our greatest admiration and thanks must go to the heroes on the front line, particularly the brave NHS and social care staff, including those who have come out of retirement to help, who are putting themselves at risk. We must also thank all the other critical workers who are keeping things running.

As the Mayor of London, I’d like to particularly thank our Transport for London staff, who are keeping the public transport network moving. We are running as many Tube trains and buses as physically possible, but nearly a third of our TfL staff are now off sick or selfisolating.

The vast majority of Londoners are following the rules, which means the use of the Tube has dropped by more than 90 per cent. But we still need more people to stay at home to ensure our critical workers can travel safely.

At times of true national emergency, party politics is put to one side. There has been good co-operation in recent weeks between City Hall in London and ministers and officials across Government, as well as with local councils of all parties, to co-ordinate our response. I’ve been working closely with the Prime Minister and I’m sure I join the whole country in wishing him a speedy recovery.

We are still some weeks away from the peak of this crisis. In the coming days, the new NHS Nightingale hospital at the ExCeL exhibition centre in London will open, with up to 4,000 critical care beds. The fact we will need this extra capacity, and more, so soon shows how tough this is going to get.

Our country has been through difficult times before and we have always come through them by pulling together. We should be proud – and it gives me great hope – that we are doing the same again now. This fight is going to take everything we’ve got.